Museum of American Exceptionalism
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Grit

Long odds, taken anyway.

1778–1980 · 7 exhibits
  1. The March to Valley Forge, December 19, 1777 (William B. T. Trego, 1883): Washington watches his army march into winter quarters.
    1778Open nowValley ForgeWashington’s army held together through a winter of hunger and disease, learned Steuben’s drill and marched out a professional army.6months
  2. A modern rider retraces the Pony Express National Historic Trail across the Wyoming sagebrush under a storm sky, September 2010.
    1860Open nowThe Pony ExpressYoung riders galloped mail from Missouri to California in ten days, through blizzards, deserts and hostile country.1,966miles in 10 days
  3. Jim Thorpe spreads his arms as he crosses the finish line, 1912
    1912Open nowThe Greatest Athlete in the WorldAt Stockholm, Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and the decathlon. The King of Sweden called him the greatest athlete in the world.2Olympic golds
  4. A dog team on the Iditarod National Historic Trail between Kaltag and Unalakleet, the stretch Jackscrew and Victor Anagick ran with the serum in 1925. Photographed in March 2016.
    1925Open nowThe Serum Run to NomeTwenty mushers and about 150 dogs carried diphtheria serum 674 miles through an Alaskan blizzard in 127½ hours.674miles
  5. Jesse Owens in flight in the long jump at the Olympic Stadium, Berlin, August 1936
    1936Open nowFour Golds in BerlinIn Hitler’s Olympic stadium, a sharecropper’s son from Alabama won the 100, the 200, the long jump and the relay.4gold medals
  6. Mount Everest from the Khumbu in Nepal, the side the 1963 team climbed, with a plume of snow streaming off the summit.
    1963Open nowAmericans on EverestFive Americans and Sherpa Nawang Gombu reached the top of the world, and two of the Americans made the first traverse of Everest.29,032feet
  7. USA vs. Soviet Union, Lake Placid, February 22, 1980 (Mike Ramsey #5 with the puck)
    1980Open nowMiracle on IceA team of college and amateur players beat the Soviet machine at Lake Placid.4–3final score